At October 17 Media we install blogs for our clients and they all have the best of intentions to update, promote and interact with their blogs from the start. But after a few posts the excitement usually wanes and the content quality and frequency inevitably starts to lag.
We understand that it’s hard to keep focus and find the motivation but blogs provide long term gain and you’ve got to stick with it!
So, we’ve found a relatively new-to-the scene Vancouver blogger (his first post was November 4th, 2008), but he’s done an excellent job of staying on top of regular blogging and promoting his blog. We’re hoping this exceptional blogger will help motivate and inspire you to GET BLOGGING!
WHO’S THE BLOGGER? Mike Desjardins, “Driver” at ViRTUS Inc.
WHERE’S THE BLOG: www.mikedesjardins.com: A blog on Business Strategy, Corporate Culture & Technology
1. Tell us a bit about your blog and the motivation behind starting it.
The motivation came from Shannon Lawder, Content Director, at ViRTUS. We were talking one day and she said to me, “At least a few times a week you say ‘You know what I realized/learned today?’, well, you should write a blog about that.” I setup the Wordpress account to try it out. I’m not a writer or a journaler (yes, I know this is not a word), but I figured I would give it a shot. I wrote five draft posts. A few nights later I was at an EO (Entrepreneurs’ Organization) event and I mentioned to my buddy Mike Jagger, CEO of Provident Security, that I was blogging. His response, “Ya, it only counts when you hit POST.” I went home and did exactly that.
Now I schedule a 30 minute appointment every Friday morning to blog. Throughout the week I collect emails and articles and books and drop them in a folder. That’s where the content for the blog comes from, well, that and video content and interviews.
2. When promoting your blog, which promotion tool is working the best so far?
So far the best promotion tool seems to be a blend of emailing my clients an excerpt of the blog post and facebook, based on click-throughs (Definition of “click-through”).
3. What type of results have you seen from blogging so far?
So far the results have mostly been in the form of comments from people, “I read your blog often and appreciate what you have to say.” Direct business benefit – not sure yet but I’ve only been blogging since Nov 2008. Having said that, when people send me a question I write the answer in a blog post. That has saved me a lot of time as I don’t have to answer the same question multiple times – I can reference the blog post.
4. What are your top 3 most successful posts and why?
My top 3 posts are:
1. ViRTUS’ 10 year anniversary
2. Deciding to frame your year in success
3. Adventures in Tokyo
5. If someone was just starting a blog what advice would you give them?
Schedule time to blog every week and then schedule the post to actually post whenever you want. Interview other people (free content), blend video with text (video gets more views), and be real: blogging is an authentic medium.
6. Outside of blogging, what other social media are you involved in?
- Linkedin (boring)
Tags: Blog Promotion, Blog Writing, Blogging, Facebook, Mike Desjardins, Online Marketing, Twitter, Vancouver Blogger, Wordpress
